-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- On Wednesday , the Los Angeles Times published photos of U.S. soldiers posing with what the paper said were bodies of insurgents in Afghanistan .

The newspaper said a soldier came forward with the images to draw attention to the safety risk associated with a decline in leadership and discipline . In the Times story , editor Davan Maharaj said publishing the photos `` would fulfill our obligation to readers to report vigorously and impartially on all aspects of the American mission in Afghanistan , including the allegation that the images reflect a breakdown in unit discipline that was endangering U.S. troops . ''

The Los Angeles Times said efforts to get responses from the soldiers involved were unsuccessful . CNN has not independently authenticated the photos .

The images are just the latest in a string of scandals that some say could damage U.S. efforts in the war , which is in its 11th year .

In January , video footage emerged of U.S. soldiers apparently urinating on Afghan corpses . In February , Afghans rioted after it was discovered that Qurans had been burned in violation of Islamic custom at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan . Last month , an Army staff sergeant allegedly went on a rampage and shot to death 17 Afghan civilians , including numerous children .

The U.S. is due to hand over control of the country to Afghan forces in 2014 . On Thursday Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for an `` accelerated '' transition of security responsibilities to the country 's forces . He called the photos `` inhumane and provocative . ''

CNN spoke with three national security and military experts about the images and what impact they may have on the U.S. mission in Afghanistan . Here 's an edited version of their responses .

Read the complete interviews here

Baer : ` Very , very difficult time stabilizing this country '

Robert Baer is a former CIA agent who spent most of his career in the Middle East . His book `` See No Evil '' has been lauded for its first-person look inside the agency and for its analysis of events leading up the war on terror .

I think the situation there is going from bad to worse . ... It 's incidents like these which are dividing American troops from the Afghans . I just do n't see it getting better . Of course , this is an isolated event . It 's not the end of the world , but if it continues on like this -- more bad news -- we 're going to have a very , very difficult time stabilizing this country before 2014 .

Getting into one of these wars is very easy . It 's very , very difficult for a White House to walk away from this , especially when the same people that attacked us on 9/11 are going to come back . For a politician to say , ` Hey , let 's forget about it , let 's hope for the best , let 's leave ' -- this is a problem for the White House . They can not be seen to be losing a war . It does n't really matter that we never really won the war . It 's just morphed into something else , into a quagmire , guerrilla warfare .

I do n't think we 're going to speed it up , we 're just going to hope for the best and get better control of the military . And hope that the Afghans will be able to take this over . I 'm not very confident , though .

Marks : ` Very damaging to all the U.S. efforts '

James `` Spider '' Marks is a retired U.S. Army general . He works as a consultant in Washington .

This is very damaging to all the U.S. efforts , specifically the U.S. effort to assure it stays in harness with the Afghan government and the Afghan security forces moving forward in this critically important mission . This does nothing but throw sand into that fabric of trying to establish and trying reinforce what has been , over the last decade , a reasonably good relationship . There 's nothing good that comes from this .

Sadly , you had soldiers ostensibly dehumanizing the enemy . That ca n't be done . You 've got to hold these bad guys with respect that they deserve if they 're willing to kill themselves to achieve a goal ... our soldiers understand this . These are several bad apples . You need to always respect your enemy , so you better understand them .

The record of the military in our conflicts , both in Afghanistan and Iraq , and routine activities that take place every day around the globe -LSB- have been -RSB- decentralized out to young men and women like these folks -LSB- in the photos -RSB- , who sadly made a huge mistake . But most folks -- 99 % of our military -- do a magnificent job . So you have to let the record speak for itself . What you have to do locally -- and Gen. John Allen -LSB- the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan -RSB- understands this intimately -- you have a lot of damage control to do . You have to anticipate what the reaction is going to be in Afghanistan . It speaks to this isolated incident , and it does n't speak to a full breakdown in terms of morale and discipline and capabilities in our military . ... The military in this case is losing ground because they 've achieved so many great things , specifically in Afghanistan , and this incident is setting them back .

Clark : ` We 'll get an orderly withdrawal '

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark served as supreme allied commander of NATO from 1997 to 2000 in the Kosovo war . Once a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University , he has a degree in philosophy , politics and economics , and a master 's degree in military science . He served 34 years in the Army and ran in the 2004 presidential election .

-LSB- The photos do n't -RSB- represent the standards or the training or the values of the United States armed forces . Our soldiers and our leaders know you do n't pose with dead enemy bodies , and there 's a lot of other things that you do n't do . We maintain these standards . I think the men and women of the armed forces have done a remarkable job , our leadership has done a remarkable job . No one ever expected when this conflict started that we 'd be in it -LSB- almost -RSB- 11 years later , a volunteer army would have held together and done so very well . This is an exception , and I know the military will take their proper measures .

We 've accomplished our major objective there . We got Osama bin Laden . We 've taken strong measures against al Qaeda -- it 's a broken organization , at least as it was in 2001 . And it 's not going to recover , at least not in the near term there . There are other enemies on the ground there in Afghanistan , and it 's been a tough fight . So winning the hearts and minds ? I think we can continue training Afghan security forces . I think we can expect to fulfill the obligations to Hamid Karzai 's government . I think we 'll get an orderly withdrawal out of that region , as President Obama said , -LSB- in -RSB- 2014 . That 's what we 're really looking for .

There will be mixed feelings , because those mixed feelings on the ground among the populace are inevitable in wartime . This is a country that 's been through 40 years of war . So , there have been a lot of losses , a lot of tragedy , there 's been a lot of hatred . This is one more small piece of that .

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Experts give opinions about photos allegedly showing soldiers with Afghan corpses

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Ex-CIA agent Robert Baer : This incident further divides U.S. and Afghans

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Retired U.S. general says photos are `` very damaging '' to U.S. effort in Afghanistan

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Former NATO allied commander says photos do n't represent values of U.S. armed forces